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Articles by Katelyn Piontek
Marketing vs. branding: what’s the difference?
Round one… Marketing vs. branding. Ding ding! Actually, this is no fight. Successful marketing and branding operate in harmonious alignment, each boosting the impact of the other, and each with their own part to play. Presenting a consistent brand through marketing is associated with roughly 20 percent revenue growth, according to Marq (formerly Lucidpress). You need a great brand and effective marketing to see those results, however.
20 essential apps and tools for writers
Every writer works differently, so not every online tool is a good fit for every writer. But there are plenty of options when it comes to writing tools and resources. This list of 20 essential apps and online tools for writers will get you started on curating your own set of preferred tools of the trade. 1. Clippings.me. This site allows you to create an online writer's portfolio where you can display your work proudly. 2. Skype.
How to kill employee engagement in 7 easy steps
No manager in the entire business world would profess to want less employee engagement, especially when we know that: Despite this, managers are facing startling statistics about the poor overall engagement of the workforce. In order to keep your team from becoming another negative statistic, you need to understand how you could be the one that's killing employee engagement. These seven steps show you just how easy it is for managers to kill employee engagement.
Pinterest as an inbound marketing tool: community in the chaos
To those on the outside, Pinterest looks a bit chaotic and full of slightly obsessed users who are already completely immersed. As a marketer or business owner, how do you approach Pinterest as an inbound marketing tool? And how does the platform fit into your marketing strategy? Learn to walk before you run with it If you jump into using Pinterest as a marketing tool before knowing if your brand fits in, you'll end up buried under a pile of pins.
How to make time for online marketing in a small business
When you run a startup or small business, your day starts early. Before you know it, the day has passed and you haven’t squeezed in a moment for marketing like you promised yourself you would. Because of this, your social profiles sit undeveloped and unengaging, your website is static and you haven’t produced new content on that blog you signed up for in weeks, maybe months. If you are going to make time for marketing, you have to create a realistic plan and commit to consistent execution.
Why your marketing projects run late and what to do about it
When a deadline is looming, it can feel like you’re running a race with a rock in your shoe, a cramp in your leg and other runners cutting you off left and right. If your marketing projects run late and you feel like you’re struggling instead of finishing strong, it’s time to reassess your strategy. This post will help you identify the specific obstacles that make your marketing projects run late and help you do something about them.
The 7 qualities of an eye-catching and effective call-to-action
An effective call-to-action is critical to inbound marketing. Get it wrong and your content-driven inbound marketing strategy could fail. Make sure you create a clickable call that will convert visitors into viable leads. Start by attracting the right visitors to your site Before you can convert visitors into leads, you have to attract those visitors to your site. This is done by generating good content that means something to your potential customers.
9 weird tricks that turn sales leads into done deals
To bring in more sales leads and turn them into real sales, you have to make people love your product and want to be your customer. It's all about mystique, intrigue, emotion and logic. Here are some strategies for closing more business: 1. Offer less. Sheena Iyengar of Columbia University tested this at a grocery store sample booth. On the first day, she offered twenty four jams. Sixty percent of customers stopped to sample, but only three percent of that group made a purchase.
Beyond 10 20 30: getting PowerPoint branding right
Not one person in the professional world has escaped the viewing of a PowerPoint presentation and some have suffered far worse fates than others. One of the main causes of this suffering is that so many people fail to understand how to use PowerPoint properly. To put it simply, 10 20 30 should be the rule, not the exception. Seth Godin agrees that PowerPoint is not a bad branding tool; but people use it poorly. Remember, a bad workman always blames his (or her) tools.
8 timely tips for keeping an editorial calendar up to date
An editorial calendar is a must for any marketing manager, but keeping the calendar up-to-date can be a struggle. The team’s workload, confusion on responsibilities or inconsistent publishing can cause a perfectly good plan to fall apart. But your content marketing is too important to let the content it needs get left behind. Your strategy for keeping a calendar currently needs to be in place every step of the way: from generating ideas to hitting publish. 1.
Brand community: embracing the marks of your tribe
‘The Beatles didn’t invent teenagers,’ says Seth Godin in his TED talk, The Tribes We Lead. ‘They merely chose to lead them.’ Godin discusses how a tribe connects similar people, and through that a movement starts. As marketers, we want to start movements around brands or products, but that can't happen unless we take the lead with our marketing strategy and develop brand guidelines and a brand community.
10 essential PowerPoint hacks
Knowing the hacks of any common program changes the way you work and increases the flexibility of what you can create. Navigate the creative and editing process in PowerPoint and nail your next presentation with some of these hacks and tips you didn’t realise were quite literally at your fingertips. The shift key performs many essential functions.
16 go-to sources to find copyright-free images for your B2B website
The Internet isn’t short on images. But finding copyright-cleared images for your marketing content can take extra time that you don’t have. The site design, the quality of relevant photos and how well the search tool works can determine whether an image site is truly useful. Plus, the terms of use can be tricky to navigate.
9 management blogs to build your leadership skills
As a manager, you are expected to give advice, guidance, motivation and inspiration to your team. It’s helpful to have sources at the ready that guide and inspire you. Here are nine management blogs to help you develop your leadership skills. Alexander Kjerulf’s blog focuses on creating a work environment with happy, motivated employees. He writes quick thoughts and full posts addressing the subject.
9 management blogs to build your leadership skills
Management blogs offer insight and experience from otherwise inaccessible experts. Take advantage of these digital mentors to become a better leader. As a manager, you are expected to give advice, guidance, motivation and inspiration to your team. It’s helpful to have sources at the ready that guide and inspire you. Here are nine management blogs to help you develop your leadership skills. Alexander Kjerulf’s blog focuses on creating a work environment with happy, motivated employees.
How to choose a great name
Choosing a great name for your company or one of its products is a daunting task. Once established, a name can be hard to change and a poorly chosen name can deter customers. Find out what the trends are and why they work. Look at other successful companies and consider how their name relates to what their business does. Maybe you have an obvious choice, but maybe not. These steps will help to illuminate the best choice in a name for you. There are many ways to have a brainstorming session.
Startup marketing boss battle: campaign vs. quick win
When you're a startup, how do you find the time to do effective marketing? Do you go for the longer campaign or the quick win ad-hoc? Find out which one fights fitter You know you need to market your business online, but the reality is that everyone in your business is already working flat-out. How do you squeeze in effective marketing? It's all about picking your fights and staying in the ring long enough to win the match. Sometimes you need a quick win to deliver immediate results.
5 B2B marketing metrics you need to stop measuring now
In a classic episode of South Park, Gnomes steal underpants as part of a business scheme that they hope will be hugely profitable. They are obsessively focused on collecting underpants. That's their 'marketing metric'. However, when the boys confront the gnomes, it's clear that the scheme is missing a vital component: there's no connection between the activity of stealing underpants and the longed-for profit. It's the same way with vanity metrics.
Startup marketing boss battle: campaign vs. quick win
[dropcap]Y[/dropcap]ou know you need to market your business online, but the reality is that everyone in your business is already working flat-out. How do you squeeze in effective marketing? It's all about picking your fights and staying in the ring long enough to win the match. Sometimes you need a quick win to deliver immediate results. The quick win allows you to feel like you’ve checked marketing off your list with a one-off blog post, tweet, ad or promotion without losing any time.
7 practical ways to improve your public speaking - Turbine
These practical ways to improve your public speaking will positively affect the outcome in a number of work situations. Learn to speak and be heard.
Little secrets for successfully managing a finance department
Managing the finance department means ensuring the small decisions play into the big picture. Find out how to ensure every move you make heads for success. Managing a finance department is more than signing off on numbers and reconciled accounts. It’s your job to see the big picture and make sure that every decision makes sense with what the department and the company are trying to achieve long term.
Startup marketing: spontaneous quick win vs planned campaigns
You know you need to market your business online, but the reality is that everyone in your business is already working flat-out. How do you squeeze in effective marketing? It’s all about picking your fights and staying in the ring long enough to win the match. Sometimes you need a quick win to deliver immediate results. The quick win allows you to feel like you’ve checked marketing off your list with a one-off blog post, tweet, ad or promotion without losing any time.
How to kill employee engagement in 7 easy steps
Is your team bored? Unsatisfied? Generally disengaged? Read how your actions could kill employee engagement and decide to be a motivational manager instead. No manager in the entire business world would profess to want less employee engagement, especially when we know that: Despite this, managers are facing startling statistics about the poor overall engagement of the workforce.
Learning the ropes: starting strong as a new manager - Turbine
No single manual can cover everything you need to know as a new manager, but there are a few basics that every manager needs to focus on to start strong. When you earn a promotion to ‘manager,’ you don’t gain the savvy know-how that comes with ten or twenty years of management experience overnight. Your role, however, does change and even without those years of experience, you still have a job to do.
The joy of finance: there's more than meets the eye
What is being a finance professional about? The joy of finance is a lot more than crunching numbers. Working in finance is a dynamic, ever-evolving role. From the outside, the finance department appears to be all numbers, but it’s so much more. The best of finance, what makes being a finance professional what it is, goes beyond accounts and cutting costs, especially for those in a leading role.
20 essential online tools for writers • Articulate
Every writer works differently, so not every online tool is a good fit for every writer. But there are plenty of options when it comes to online writing tools and resources. This list of 20 essential online tools for writers will get you started on curating your own set of preferred tools of the trade.1. Clippings.me. This site allows you to create an online writer’s portfolio where you can display your work proudly.2. Skype.
5 marketing metrics you can stop measuring
This article was first published on 18 June 2014 but we have updated it with new links and additional comments based on Articulate’s experience in the last two years. In a classic episode of South Park, Gnomes steal underpants as part of a business scheme that they hope will be hugely profitable. They are obsessively focused on collecting underpants. That’s their ‘marketing metric’.
5 stupid reasons companies try to reinvent the wheel
When companies try to reinvent the wheel, they often ignore the most logical solution. Watch out for warning signs that your business is doing the same. A failure to change can mean failure for your business, but placing too much emphasis on decisions is just as harmful. As a business owner, each choice seems monumental because you feel like success rides on your every decision. Do you adopt the cloud? Do you hire more people? Do you switch suppliers? Do you outsource marketing? And it goes on.
The ultimate blueprint for creating a vendor evaluation system
If vendors are causing problems in your purchasing, follow this blueprint for an effective vendor evaluation system and build a healthy vendor roster. You know you need to keep a healthy vendor roster, but how deep can you go in vendor evaluation without interrupting the streamlined purchasing process you have worked so hard to develop?
The world's stupidest team building exercises
Motivation and bonding is important at work, but that doesn’t mean there’s ever a good reason to inflict these team building exercises on your poor staff. Team building events have a reputation for a reason and yet the same activities still get recycled year after year. Avoid torturing your employees with these stupid activities during your team building day. For this exercise, one person is blindfolded and instructed on how to weave their way through a field of objects by their teammate.
10 tips on how to talk to vendors - Turbine
The vendors and suppliers you work with are a part of your business strategy. Learn how to communicate with vendors with the goal of growing your business. When you take on the role of the customer, it’s sometimes easy to forget just how important the relationship your company has with your vendors and suppliers is. Like any relationship, communication is the key to success.
How to choose a great name
Choosing a great name for your company or one of its products is a daunting task. Once established, a name can be hard to change and a poorly chosen name can deter customers. Find out what the trends are and why they work. Look at other successful companies and consider how their name relates to what their business does. Maybe you have an obvious choice, but maybe not. These steps will help to illuminate the best choice in a name for you. There are many ways to have a brainstorming session.
How to handle failure so you succeed in the long run - Turbine
Failure is often discussed in hushed tones, but if you become an expert in how to handle failure so you succeed, then you can shout about it with pride. Can you get to success without experiencing failure? Probably not. What’s important to consider is how to handle failure so it’s just a chapter in your book, not the whole story. ‘I will work day and night to avoid failure,’ says Richard Branson. ‘But if I can’t, I’ll pick myself up the next day.
Emojis for copywriters: learning the new online language
For those who tried to ignore emojis, that luxury no longer exists. Those expressive symbols have slipped beyond the boundaries of a text message and into online communication. Ad Age reports that, because emojis are so prevalent as a form of communication, marketing firms are looking to create tools to analyse their and draw conclusions on brand engagement. As copywriters or marketers we are responsible for creating or editing work: being picky about turn of phrase is in our job descriptions.
6 excellent podcasts for copywriters and marketers
Recently, podcasts exploded onto the marketing scene as a popular form of content, but, just like blogs and books, they aren’t simply ways to market. They can also act as valuable resources for copywriters and marketers. Here are six popular and excellent podcasts for copywriters and marketers that will help you stay up to speed: John J. Wall and Christopher S.
Pinterest as a marketing tool
To those on the outside, Pinterest looks a bit chaotic and full of slightly obsessed users who are already completely immersed.As a marketer or business owner, how do you approach Pinterest as a marketing tool? And how does the platform fit into your marketing strategy?Learn to walk before you run with itIf you jump into using Pinterest as a marketing tool before knowing if your brand fits in, you’ll end up buried under a pile of pins.
Writing an About Us page: how to talk about yourself online
The number one rule of content marketing is to focus on the customer, their needs, their pain points and their interests. After all, the best way to sell your brand and product is not to talk about it. There is one occasion, however, when you absolutely can talk about yourself, your brand, the company and its employees: when you’re writing an About Us page. You have to be careful when writing an About Us page though: you need to know what to say and how to say it so as not to put customers off.
7 practical ways to improve your public speaking
While you might not have opportunities to speak to crowds of hundreds or thousands, your public speaking skills affect your ability to: Form strong connections Persuade people Explain information clearly This is why it’s so importantto use these practical ways to improve your public speaking, no matter what level of skill (or anxiety) you start from and no matter who you’re talking to, whether it's vendors, peers or clients. 1.
How to sell a tale: the power of stories in marketing
Customers want to know they are making ‘the right decision’ with each purchase, but deciding what's ‘right’ isn't just about facts and figures. People also make decisions based on feelings, and feelings are powerful. Sometimes you can address these feelings and instincts with statistics and case studies. More often, however, a story, fictional or otherwise, can persuade in ways which facts won’t and communicate brand value that case studies can't.
How to strengthen your brand and build value
The physical value of your products may be easy to calculate, but your consumers’ perceptions are what really determine the value your brand and products have in the marketplace. Because of this, your ability to build value into your brand and communicate that value to customers through your marketing is essential to the long term success of your company. Brand equity is the perception customers have of your products and services based on what they think of your brand.
How to strengthen your brand with your marketing strategy
The physical value of your products may be easy to calculate, but your consumers' perceptions are what really determine the value your brand and products have in the marketplace. Because of this, your ability to build value into your brand and communicate that value to customers through your marketing is essential to the long term success of your company.
Marketing telepathy: what content do my leads want to see?
Fifty percent of generated leads are not ready to make a final purchase decision when they enter the sales funnel. To hold their attention until they are ready to buy, you have to understand the process they're going through and what content is appropriate each step of the way. Whether it's writing case studies or compiling nitty-gritty white papers, all of your content must have a purpose. The journey HubSpot splits the buyer process into three stages: awareness, evaluation and purchase.
Writing an About Us page: how to talk about yourself online
The number one rule of content marketing is to focus on the customer, their needs, their pain points and their interests. After all, the best way to sell your brand and product is not to talk about it. There is one website design trend, however, where you absolutely can talk about yourself, your brand, the company and its employees: when you're writing an About Us page.
10 tricks to encourage colleagues to contribute to the company blog
Most companies are aware of the effect and therefore the need for a content marketing strategy to boost their online presence, but the number of US companies blogging for marketing purposes is only around 40 percent. The reality is that keeping up with a blog can be a lot of work. Consistency requires commitment to a full editorial calendar. Going outside the bounds of your company’s marketing team and getting colleagues to contribute is a good way to generate plenty of content.
The 7 qualities of an eye-catching and effective call-to-action
An effective call-to-action is critical to inbound marketing. Get it wrong and your content-driven inbound marketing strategy could fail. Make sure you create a clickable call that will convert visitors into viable leads. Start by attracting the right visitors to your site Before you can convert visitors into leads, you have to attract those visitors to your site. This is done by generating good content that means something to your potential customers.
8 timely tips for keeping an editorial calendar up to date
An editorial calendar is a roadmap for content creation; it tells you what, where and when to publish, and which personas you should be targeting. Keeping the calendar up-to-date, however, can be a struggle. Whether it’s the team’s workload, confusion on responsibilities or inconsistent publishing, bumps in the road can cause a perfectly good plan to fall apart. Your content marketing is too important to let the content it needs get left behind.
Join the conversation: making the most of social media marketing
Every social media platform has proven effective to marketers in some way, but to experience these benefits, you must have a social media strategy in place. Social media done the right way follows the same principles as networking in person. For it to be effective, you not only have to attend the right events with the right people, but you also have to know how to make conversation happen.
5 B2B marketing metrics you need to stop measuring now
In a classic episode of South Park, Gnomes steal underpants as part of a business scheme that they hope will be hugely profitable. They are obsessively focused on collecting underpants. That's their 'marketing metric'. However, when the boys confront the gnomes, it's clear that the scheme is missing a vital component: there's no connection between the activity of stealing underpants and the longed-for profit. It's the same way with vanity metrics.
Learning the ropes: starting strong as a new manager
When you earn a promotion to ‘manager,’ you don’t gain the savvy know-how that comes with ten or twenty years of management experience overnight. Your role, however, does change and even without those years of experience, you still have a job to do. Some things do change overnight What can make being a new manager difficult is the pressure of the expectations that come with the title. Your boss is watching you, your peers are watching you and your team is watching you to see what you’ll do.
14 misconceptions about working with marketing agencies
We've all heard the phrase 'content is king', but research has shown it's more than hype. When it comes to B2B purchasing behaviour, customers will contact a sales rep only after they've independently completed about 60 percent of the purchasing decision process. That's why you need to be working with a marketing agency. Potential leads and customers have been to your website, read your blog and probably downloaded a white paper or a brochure all before making first contact.
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